26 Feb 2016 07:23:18
Well we beat the Danish MINNOWS from that SMALL part of Denmark which is famous for having a large proportion of its population born with dwarfism.

It was a very good win and an excellent second half performance. Funny how when you play the kids they play a much more offensive and care free style of football. They seemed to free of the fear and lack of confidence their senior collegues are suffering from.

Lets see how we do against Arsenal at the weekend before we get too excited though.

{Ed001's Note - do you think it is anything to do with not being coached by LVG all the time as they are often with the younger age groups?}

1.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 08:14:27
Ed001, I think that plays a massive part of it. If you watch the under 21's you see the freedom that Warren Joyce allows them to play with.

I'll be honest if LvG was to be sacked before the end of the season I'd rather have Joyce in a caretaker role than Giggs.

But to be fair to LvG younger players tend to be more carefree and play in a more positive way rather than a cynical style which is something that comes with age and experience. Its not unusual for people to become more defensive and play it safe as they age due to becoming more aware of their owm limitations and the consequences of their actions and their failures. This is in life as well as football.

Its one of the reasons I like to see a younger football team, they take more risks, they tend to play at a tempo and they are more hungry for it.

Look at Rooney, would you rather have a 24yo Rooney in your team or a 29yo Rooney?

{Ed001's Note - Warren Joyce is very highly rated, though I would much rather you chose Giggs as I think he would be a disaster! ;-)

I do agree, it could be partially down to the simple lack of cynicism of youth or even totally.

As for Rooney, I would never have picked either, he is lucky to have played in a great team or he would never have got so highly rated. He is simply not that good and has never even come close to his potential. He was at his best when he was 18.}

2.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 08:35:15
A balance of youth and experience is important I feel.

3.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 08:38:17
Have to disagree on rooney ed.
At 18 he was a beast but raw at 23-24 he bacame almost the unsung hero i loved the way he played him and scholes stitched everything together from the back to front for ronaldo to take most of the plaudits he's always been a fantastic finisher and in a rubbish english side he's manged more goals than anyone previously so to say he wouldn't of been so highly rated is a bit off imo.

{Ed001's Note - whereas I think he was a headless chicken that never evolved and lived off Ronaldo and Scholes' greatness to make him look like he was special. Managing more goals for teams playing more games than ever before is hardly a special achievement.}

4.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 08:49:27
Ed001

I agree with you on Rooney, he has not achieved his potential. I was there on his debut for Utd and the freedom with which he played was the carefree of youth, just did it instinctively. As soon as he started to think about it he seemed to slow in his development. Many players break through, it is hard not to reflect on Macheda's debut, then disappear because they don't develop. Mentally they need to make it as well as physically. Rooney is a great example of bursting on the scene before regressing.

I agree, I think Giggs would be a disaster as permanent manager, said so on here and it is my great fear that old fashioned thinking from football dinosaurs will bring a total end to the era we have had and put us in the wilderness for years. Joyce has a far greater argument for being interim and the permanent choice absolutely must not be Giggs.

{Ed001's Note - Joyce I would like to see as a manager, I think he has the potential to be excellent in that role.}

5.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 08:50:33
Rooney was the best young player in the world at 21.

{Ed001's Note - only to those who never watched football outside England to see how much better the Portugese, German, Spanish and French youngsters (just for starters) were.}

6.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 09:33:47
Ed001,

You little tinker, we have tried so hard not to get a Rooney debate going yet you are trying to start one, people are very passionate about him, to suggest it is easy to score 50 goals for England because they play more games, Charlton scored 49 in 106, Rooney has 51 in 109, so I am assuming these posts are just to wind United fans up as your facts are wrong. Being the top goalscorer for your country is 100% a 'special' achievement as well, it is certainly one of the things I dreamt about growing up.

I agree he never reached his potential by the way, but to suggest he was never any good just sounds massively like a wind up to me, and that isn't like you.

{Ed001's Note - 51 in 109 playing up front. Charlton played in midfield. Rooney should have a lot more, but he spends so much time running around aimlessly getting into trouble for no reason other than his complete lack of intelligence. He is simply not a special player. Shame because he should have been, but his off field lifestyle has stopped him coming close to what he should have been.

Sorry I will shush now. No more from me on this, I never realised there was an avoidance of it on here.

So how about Smalling? Is he still the next Beckenbauer? Or is there something else I can say for a quick subject change that no one will notice? ;-)

7.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 09:40:39
No.7, obviously you need a balance. You need a few old heads to help the youngsters through the tricky games. I wouldn't want a team full of teenagers, but a team with an average age of around 25 is ideal imo. A few players in their late 20's a few in their teens/ early 20's and the rest in their mid 20's.

I agree with Ed001 that Rooney never came close to reaching his full potential, and isn't half the player now that he was when he was 18.
Personally I feel he peaked in his early to mid 20's, but I agree that he may have been made to look better than he truely was at that time due to him playing in a great team at that time. Its true he never lookef as good for England as he did for us at that time.

Giving Giggs the top job would be a failure to notice that the world of football has massively moved on in the last 30 years. The club was successful under Sir Alex because of Sir Alex, trying to get a poor imiation of him will only yield poor results. The club needs to move on and progress.

8.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 09:44:14
Wow i'm astonished by your lack of appreciation. Its an opinion based game i get that but you seem to totally discredit his career and what he's acheived. I think its easy to say looking at his effectiveness now that he's underacheived as far as potential goes but it seems your reluctant to realise how much and how special he was. Neymar is a great player but messi and suarez make him better that's what great players do. I get your opinion i really do but you can't discredit the man whole career when he's acheived so much.

9.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 09:44:38
No he wasn't.

10.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 09:56:28
Your views will upset some folk on here ed but I agree with most of what you say.
Smalling has shown a modicum of improvement but lacks a great deal of positional sense. He had some good defensive attributes but does not always apply them.
Not having a regular senior partner has also stunted his development.
I would like to see us being ina senior ball winning cb that will organise those around and in front of him. In the mould of vidic Stam terry or Adams. But there area lot of clubs looking for the same type of cb and there are very few candidates. Your Team need one also as do arsenal Chelsea and city. Not to mention Madrid and to a leader extent Barcelona.
Is snaking the answer defo not for me.

{Ed001's Note - are there any really top class centre backs around at the moment? They all seem incapable of actually defending.}

11.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 09:56:53
Smalling not snaking😀.

12.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 10:28:01
Your right ed 001 the at of defending seems to Jane missed a generation. People talking 50m for stones amuses me. He is so far from a 50m player its laughable. He positioning and sense of danger is very questionable put him with the wrong partner and he will flop big time. Funnily enough i think a season alongside Terry would have been very good for him.
He needs a tough guy alongside him with bags of experience.
There are not too many about. Huth at Leicester is doing a good job and would be another good partner for stones.

{Ed001's Note - it is very bizarre, no one seems to value keeping the ball out of the net any more.}

13.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 10:48:12
It's telling when people say that Koscielny has been the best CB in the league this season, with a straight face, and it's genuinely difficult to offer an alternative.

14.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 11:08:30
Alderweild poor spelling. From spurs Danny. He did well at Southampton and is enjoying a good season with spurs. Don't think there is enough time spent on the training ground particularly at youth level coaching the art and technique of defending.

15.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 11:13:26
Especially your keeper ed but i won't get you started in that😂 😂
Just wondering ed it's shaping up to be a close finish for the title. Where do you see it ending up?
I guess most supporters outside those in top 4 would like Leicester or spurs to win it.

{Ed001's Note - I hope Leicester, I really can't see why they won't win it now, fingers crossed.}

16.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 12:10:38
Ed001, I said the other day that the shift in how teams defended and the move toward having more ball playing defenders who can push up into midfield to create overloads as well as a confusing shift from personal to zonal marking by some managers and this switching between the two methods from game to game amd in some cases a mixture of both in the same game depending on the situation has completely muddled what skills young defenders should be honing, instead they need to be masters of all skills. But what we have is jacks of all and masters of none.

Look at Winston Reid, an excellent traditional defender, but isn't very good at bringing or playing the ball out from the back.

Its ruined a generation of young defenders who should be in their prime now.

Atm the best way to defend with this current crop of defenders is to play a high pressing system, managers like Bielsa, Klopp, Pochettino and Simeone are showing how create successful teams in modern football. They mitigate poorer defenders by defending high up the pitch lessening the work load on their defenders by getting the attackers to win the ball back.

{Ed001's Note - that was always the case in the past though, it is nothing to do with new managers, Rush was defending from the front back in the 80s.}

17.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 12:34:53
001, having a look at Leicester's run in. It's favourable, up until their final 3 games where they have us Away, Everton Home, and Chelsea Away. I think if they needed to win even one of these they'd buckle under the pressure.

Can't wait to watch them in the UCL next season, especially when they get drawn with Barcelona or Bayern.

18.) 26 Feb 2016
26 Feb 2016 12:36:15
Ed001, it goes in cycles. I think the new pressure to make all defenders ball playing centre backs has ment less work training on actual defending and more work on passing and vision.

I think several managers have come up with the idea of using the high press as a direct result of there not being defenders of a high enough quality. A lot of the teams who now use the high press were teams that would traditionally use the counter attack, but with a dip in the quality of defenders its too dangerous to invite teams onto your defence deep in your own half. So they use the high press and look to spring on the oppositions mistakes higher up the pitch instead.

Its working very well against teams that use possession, as they have generally used defenders who are good with the ball, but these ball playimg defenders have lacked somewhat in the defensive side of their game. Making it easier for high pressing teams to seize on mistakes and pressure them into mistakes.

Its one of the reasons LvG has a relatively good record against the top teams but a poor one against the "lesser" teams. People who pressure our defence and hound us get a lot of joy out of our defenders. Yet teams that look to build up against us have struggled.

{Ed001's Note - that makes sense mate.}